Rivers Blessing

Family photo, after the blessing

3 generations of Shepherd men, also a preview of what Rivers will look like when he gets older :)

Handsome man with mommy before church :) isn't his little suit so cute!

Both my handsome men together

At 6 weeks old, on December 5th, Scott blessed our sweet little boy. It was such a wonderful day and we are so grateful for everyone who attended. I recorded the blessing, and when I get more time I will write it down and save it so he can read it himself when he is older. I hope my little man will learn and cherish what a wonderful priesthood line he comes from. This is one blessed kid!
A few things about Rivers at 6 weeks:
He sleeps 6 hours straight at night, Mommy loves this.
He loves, and I mean LOVES his changing table, we have no idea why...
He has discovered how tasty his hands are
He is getting over his colic!!! This pleases mommy more than words can say.
He has out grown some of his newborn clothes, this makes mommy sad, he's not my little baby any more.
He loves his swing, which is so nice for mommy.
He hates taking naps during the day.
He eats so so much!
He still hates his car seat.
He hates his binky, and makes a disgusted face while sucking on it. I like to think that his thought process is "I don't like you binky, but I'll suck on you anyway"
He's laughing and smiling more.
He loves his mommy
Mommy loves him!

Thanksgiving!

His shirt says "I'm stuffed!"

On his changing table, his favorite place in the world!
I'm having so issues with uploading photos, so this is just how all my posts are going to look for a while. And I don't have much time because I think I hear my little man starting to stir.
We had a huge family Thanksgiving this year with Scott's side of the family. Over 40 people and 4 babies in attendance. Rivers was a grump, and spent most of Thanksgiving crying. It was hard for mommy, but I know that it won't be this way forever. We are blessed that even though little man was a grump, lots of people still love him and everyone wanted to hold him. He is just getting too big!

4 weeks old!

Rivers was 4 weeks old on November 21. To celebrate we got our first big snowstorm!! being the awesome mom that I am, I made my husband and 4 week old baby go outside and take pictures in the snow.





Here are some facts about my 4 week old son:
He hates to sleep! I've never seen a newborn fight sleep so much, we have to cover his face after our 3am feeding to get him back to sleep (don't worry, I'm holding him and it's removed once sleep is accomplished).
Also he has to have "white noise" to sleep, my house have never been so noisy.
He hates his bath, unless he can just sit in the water. Getting clean is just too much work.
He loves to snuggle with Mommy, which mommy doesn't mind unless she gets peed on.
He has colic, which is a curse I would never wish upon my most hated enemy.
He is sooo spoiled! Every time he meets some one he gets a gift, or whenever family is around he gets a gift. Mommy is going to need more thank you cards.
He loves his grandmas!!!! The last photo is him with my mom, Rivers is such a good baby around Grandma Hulse and Grandma Shepherd, I wish they could be with him everyday.
Rivers HATES wearing clothes, and would rather be naked. It's cold so mommy is mean and makes him wear clothes everyday.
He also is exclusively breastfed, something mommy is proud of, and, when it's convenient, wears cloth diapers. Something else mommy is proud of.
Also, Rivers is getting so chubby, he almost doesn't resemble the little baby I brought home from the hospital.
He makes the silliest noises, he started cooing this week, but he cries are always so funny, we laugh at him, and he cries more.

Scott and I love Rivers so much and despite the colic would never change anything about him!

First Photos

I took my little man and got his photos taken when he was 11 days old. He was grumpy when we first got there, but the photos turned out super cute anyway. I wanna give a shout out to my wonderful friend Lyndi, who is moving back to Utah soon :), for making his super cute pumpkin cacoon. All the photographers went crazy for it, and asked where they could buy one at. You may have a business here Lyndi. I love my cute little boy, he really is such a blessing in our lives, and I couldn't imagine being without him!

Introducing

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Introducting

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INTRODUCING.....

My little monkey Rivers McKean Shepherd!!!!

These photos don't do him justice for how cute he really is! Here he is a week old on Halloween, as a little monkey.

Here Rivers is with his Daddy trying to karate chop him.

and here he is with his Mommy being just too cute!

And here he is just seconds after birth, weighing in at 7lbs 8oz, and 20.5 inches long. Since birth he has lost his .5 inches and a few ounces, which is completely normal.

Here he is with his Grandma Hulse, who waited all night at the hospital for him to be born (I'll go into those details later).

And with Grandpa Hulse, who had to go to the E.R. for an infection in his leg while waiting in the hospital all night for him to be born.

And this is one of mommy's favorite pictures of Rivers with his Grandma and Grandpa Shepherd. I have so many cuter and better pictures on my phone, but I haven't quite figured out how to upload them from my new phone.

So here is Rivers birth story:

On October 23, at about 4:30 in the morning I started having contractions, but silly me I thought it was just gas. Well, about 3 minutes into that I had the thought that maybe I was having contractions, so I laid there in bed counting how long they were (it was 4:30 in the morning and I couldn't really remember what the doc said about timing contractions). Well after about an hour of that I decided to wake Scott up and ask him what the doctor said, since the were getting stronger and more painful. Well we laid in bed for about another hour timing the contractions, with Scott asking me if we should go to the hospital. I had a terrible fear of this not being labor and still being pregnant and having to go in to work that night that I waited. Well we head to the hospital, and check in to Labor and delivery, and they hook me up to the monitors. I was in labor!! They monitor for a while, but my contractions aren't getting stronger, and I'm still only dilated to a one (which I'd been at for over 2 weeks at the point) but my blood pressure is higher than they liked. Well they unhook me and send me home with a loratab and instructions to rest and come back if labor pains get worse, or my water breaks.
So I called into work, which I had been scheduled in positions that I could leave if I went into labor. So I sat at home all day, while Scott slept because he was planning on working that night. Well I was still in labor with nothing happening. So I took a nap. Scott's boss told him to stay home with me, which Scott decided meant watch football all day, well around 5 o'clock, during my contraction filled nap, my water broke!! That was the weirdest thing I've ever felt!! So, I changed and headed back to the hospital. They hook me up again, and I ask for an epidural. That's right, why be in pain if you don't have to be, this was advice I got from my dad. after that labor was a breeze.

I started to progress (finally) after the epidural. Finally the nurse comes in and informs me that I'm going to start pushing at 2 am. Well, this is where the story turns for me, I push and push and push, and little Rivers is stuck. Taking after his father and grandfather, he has a rather large head, and it was stuck on my pelvic bone. After about 3 hours of pushing my doctor tells me that she's only going to let me do this for another 15 minutes and if I can't get him unstuck on my own, I'm going to have to have a C-section. Now I was very stern that I did NOT want a C-section. So somehow, despite being completely exhausted and having been awake for 24 hours now, I found some strength and pushed harder. I got him unstuck in two parts, and finally push his huge head out!! Rivers was born with the biggest alien conehead I have ever seen!! Which tilted slightly to the left, because when my water broke he was on the left side of the uterus causing him to come out on the left side instead of straight up and down. But he was perfect!! Completely healthy and right on time. Being born at 5:39 on October 24, 2010. Right on time! By the time we left the hospital his head was perfectly normal, and he just got cuter and cuter.

I love my little man, who really has been so text book his entire existence. I still can't believe he's a week old now. Everyday all I think is I'm never going to get this time back in either of our lives.

Scott is the best daddy ever, taking care of me and Rivers in every way and I am so grateful for the sacrifices he makes for our family. I am so blessed. I am so loved, and so is my little man. I feel the Saviors love every time I look and this amazing little blessing that I was given. What more could anyone want?